Agencies are working to improve Rathdrum Prairie intersections that are notorious for vehicle collision accidents.

Knife River on Monday began working on a $265,000 project at Highway 53 and Pleasantview Road in the Hauser area that will add turn lanes for both directions of traffic on Highway 53.

"The lanes will give temporary refuge for traffic that is turning (onto Pleasantview)," said Marvin Fenn of the Idaho Transportation Department, which has worked on the project with the Post Falls Highway District.

There were 28 total crashes, including 22 injury accidents, at the intersection from 2000 to 2014, according to ITD. There were no deaths at that spot during that timeframe.

Meanwhile, the highway district has tapped J.U.B. Engineers to perform an analysis of two other accident-prone intersections on the prairie — Prairie Avenue-Pleasantview and Chase Road-Hayden Avenue — to explore what improvements can increase safety at the locations.

The Highway 53-Pleasantview project under construction will be similar to improvements that were made at the intersection of Highway 53 and McGuire Road.

"There's still a chance for crashes, but the improvements have made it much safer," said Lynn Humphreys, chairman of the Post Falls Highway District. "There's less crashes and the severity of them have gone down.

"This allows traffic to get out of the mainstream, high-speed lanes when making a turn."

The Highway 53-Pleasantview project will be an interim fix until a full intersection in which Pleasantview will be separated from the railroad tracks along Highway 53 is built, Humphreys said. He said it's unclear exactly when the full intersection will be built, but it's still several years out.

Humphreys said construction of the current project was delayed after BNSF Railway had concerns about signing off on the project since a portion of it is in the railroad's right of way.

Traffic on Highway 53 will not be restricted during much of the project, but there may be periodic delays. The speed limit on Pleasantview Road will be reduced to 35 mph about 100 feet south of BNSF's track.

The $20,000 analysis of the two other intersections comes after 14 accidents and two fatalities within a 10-month period at Pleasantview-Prairie.

The highway district earlier leveled the surface of the location and added oversized Stop signs with flashing lights, extra signage and rumble strips to increase safety. Traffic on north-south Pleasantview is not required to stop at the intersection.

The analysis, which will be released within two months, will explore whether other improvements such as a signalized intersection, roundabout or reducing speeds should be implemented, but the location is also intended to be a major thoroughfare, Humphreys said. Planners will need to weigh that, if traffic is slowed or congestion increases with improvements, if more accidents will occur as a result.

Humphreys said the district has received complaints about the Chase-Hayden intersection because it is "confusing" since that is one of the few spots on Hayden in which traffic is required to stop. Traffic on Chase at the intersection is not required to stop.